![\"\"](\"https:\/\/solartechnology.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/MBII-Underwater-Caution.jpg\")
The situations \u2013 not as tragic as the hurricanes \u2013 ranged from a board parked beneath an underpass during street flooding to a customer who accidently left the battery box open during a heavy downpour.<\/p>\nOur hearts go out to the victims of Harvey in Texas, and Irma in the state of Florida. Once the people are safe and electricity is restored, we\u2019re sure that the recovery will put our boards to work during the reconstruction.<\/p>\n
It also got us wondering how our equipment would hold up in a river flooding or tidal surge. We interviewed Gary Laudenslager, senior service tech, about his experience in repairing flooded boards.<\/p>\n
The situations \u2013 not as tragic as the hurricanes \u2013 ranged from a board parked beneath an underpass during street flooding to a customer who accidently left the battery box open during a heavy downpour.<\/p>\n
First question Gary asks is \u201cHow long was the unit in water?\u201d The shorter the time, the better the chance that the batteries will recover and the electronics may be salvageable.<\/p>\n
Next question: \u201cWas it salt or fresh water?\u201d Salt water is both conductive and corrosive, and will do the most damage to the electronics. Fresh water still contains dissolved solids like minerals that can cause problems \u2013 less so if the board was powered off when the water damage occurred.<\/p>\n
Gary\u2019s most urgent advice: DON\u2019T TURN ON THE BOARD! Instead, remove the electronic components \u2013 the controller, the EMS and the display modules \u2013 and ship them to us as soon as possible. The SolarTech repair crew will take apart every component and check everything, replacing and testing to restore the unit. The frame will fare better \u2013 it\u2019s the electronics that need to be checked.<\/p>\n
A reminder: insure your equipment. The cost of repair may be recovered by your claim. And keep the battery compartment lid closed.<\/p>\n
Any questions? Call our Tech Support department. The call is free, and we\u2019ll be happy to answer any water damage questions. Stay safe\u2026 and dry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Our hearts go out to the victims of Harvey in Texas, and Irma in the state of Florida. Once the people are safe and electricity is restored, we\u2019re sure that the recovery will put our boards to work during the reconstruction. It also got us wondering how our equipment would hold up in a river […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_swt_meta_header_display":false,"_swt_meta_footer_display":false,"_swt_meta_site_title_display":false,"_swt_meta_sticky_header":false,"_swt_meta_transparent_header":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[17,40,26,124],"class_list":["post-5184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tips-and-hints-from-support","tag-controllers","tag-flooding","tag-repairs","tag-water-damage"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Heidi","author_link":"https:\/\/solartechnology.com\/staging\/author\/solar-technology-2\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Our hearts go out to the victims of Harvey in Texas, and Irma in the state of Florida. Once the people are safe and electricity is restored, we\u2019re sure that the recovery will put our boards to work during the reconstruction. It also got us wondering how our equipment would hold up in a river…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/solartechnology.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/solartechnology.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/solartechnology.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solartechnology.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solartechnology.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5184"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/solartechnology.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5184\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/solartechnology.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solartechnology.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solartechnology.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}